The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh kicked off their Diamond Jubilee tour of the capital with a visit to Bromley

Couples celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this year have enjoyed taking tea with the Queen as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour.

The Queen met the couples on a visit to Bromley in south-east London, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh were also cheered by 6,000 flag-waving schoolchildren who lined the streets.

Kenneth and Averil Holdaway, both 85, from Bromley, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in August.

Mrs Holdaway sat next to the Queen at the tea party and said: "It all went too quickly but it was an experience I will remember forever."

Cyril and Evelyn Sergeant, both 86, were married on 23 February 1952 and said sharing their diamond anniversary with the Queen made it even more special.

Couples also shared their memories of being newlyweds during the coronation in 1952, including Mrs Sergeant, who recalled travelling to London for the Coronation.

"I remember it was pouring with rain and I had a red coat on. When I got home the rain had left red marks on my clothes.

"Now it's 60 years later. We have got good humour, that's the key. We are always joking and that makes the difference."

Alan Butler, 85, has been married to his wife Alma, 82, since 1 March 1952.

"It was a very exciting year. We didn't have a television so we had to go to our parents' house to watch the Coronation because they had a 9in one. We thought it was marvellous."

However not everyone got a chance to meet Her Majesty. Among those who braved the rain to see the royal couple was Catford-based cake-maker Natasha Orumbie, who had baked a cake in the shape of the Queen's head.

Ms Orumbie said: "I made it specially for today and it took me two weeks. I got here at 7am so I'm gutted she did not get to see it.

"I am going to take it to the Big Lunch we are having in Bromley for the Jubilee instead."

Dressed in a baby blue wool crepe dress and a white, lavender and baby blue boucle tweed coat by Stewart Parvin, with a hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, the Queen also toured an exhibition about the history of fashion and met schoolchildren who had designed an outfit for her.

Fiona Kurti, 11, from Burnt Ash primary school, designed the winning ensemble which was sewn by a professional seamstress.

The outfit comprised a pale blue coat with diamond decorations and a matching hat adorned with a feather and three smaller diamond shapes.

Fiona said: "It is the Diamond Jubilee so I wanted something with diamonds. It took me quite a few days to design it because I wanted to make it perfect. I worked on it in playtime and finished it at home."

The Queen also looked at a series of displays celebrating London as a global centre of fashion and inspected an exhibition of outfits from every decade of her reign, including a cream Hardy Amies ballgown from the 1950s, an Ossie Clark number from the 1960s and a Biba dress from the 1970s.

Mark Butterfield, from the C20 Vintage archive, which provided many of the outfits, said the Queen recognised two dresses from the 1960s because they will be appearing on stamps.

He added: "The Duke of Edinburgh asked if I had designed the suit I'm wearing but I said it was from Granny Takes A Trip from 1969. He said it looked like it!"